Transcript of Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan's Remarks at the Singapore Cooperation Programme Alumni Reception in Vientiane, Laos, 27 January 2024

Your Excellency Thongsavanh Phomvihane, Head of the Committee for External Relations, Central Committee of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party

Excellencies

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Sabaidee! My wife and I are delighted to join all of you, the distinguished alumni from the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP), as we celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the establishment of Singapore-Laos diplomatic relations. I had the pleasure of meeting our Guest of Honour earlier today. I know today is Saturday and you have all made the extra effort and time to meet us. We are very grateful. We will collectively celebrate this milestone anniversary.

Bilateral cooperation between Laos and Singapore has been going on an upward trajectory, and we are working together on several emerging and exciting areas. We commenced the Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project in 2022. This is, in fact, Singapore’s first import of renewable energy, bringing in up to 100 megawatts of hydroelectricity from Laos. 100 megawatts of hydroelectricity is enough to power around 140,000 households. This project is proof that the ASEAN Power Grid is feasible. An ASEAN Power Grid will enhance ASEAN’s energy security through cross-border energy trading. It will open up the possibility for ASEAN Member States to support each other’s energy needs, and Laos will fulfil your goal of becoming the battery or the dynamo of ASEAN. So, it is fitting to make concrete progress towards the ASEAN Power Grid during the time that Laos is chairing ASEAN.

We are also working together on sustainability, and in particular towards signing an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) on Carbon Credits Collaboration aligned with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. I look forward to an early signing of the MOU and encourage all our officials on both sides to work expeditiously towards an Implementation Agreement on Carbon Credits Collaboration. I believe this will allow private companies in both countries to pursue mutually beneficial economic opportunities.

Singapore has been a constant, consistent, and stalwart supporter of Laos’ development. We are happy to have hosted more than 16,000 officials from Laos through the Singapore Cooperation Programme. All of you here in this room are part of the family. To facilitate our efforts in partnering Laos to develop its human talents and resource capabilities, we opened a training centre in Vientiane in 2001. This was upgraded to the Laos-Singapore Cooperation Centre along Thadeua Road, just down the road from our Embassy. I hope many of you have been to that centre.

I am sure that many of you have visited Singapore, I hope more recently for SCP courses. I have been both heartened and encouraged to hear your stories and the way we have both mutually benefitted from interacting with each other, with the exchange of ideas and perspectives. During the visit of President Thongloun Sisoulith, back then he was the Prime Minister, when he visited Singapore, and also the former Prime Minister, Phankham Viphavanh, both Prime Ministers, they had asked to visit Nanyang Polytechnic, because in fact, that is where they had attended the language programme several years earlier. It was heartwarming to see them reunite with their Singaporean teachers. And in many ways, it shows that the friendship made during these courses are friendships for life. So all of you are lifelong friends of Singapore, and represent the strong bonds of trust and goodwill between our nations.

In the early years of Singapore's nationhood, Singapore benefited from the generosity and support of our international partners. We established the SCP in 1992 to pay it forward, in a sense, for what we had received during our early years. We believe in a peaceful and prosperous Southeast Asia. We believe that all of us can work together through a shared vision for a sustainable future, and that we are best placed to harness the many growth opportunities in Southeast Asia. I must add, I am convinced that there is great potential in Laos in the years ahead. 

We will support Laos as you take on the Chairmanship of ASEAN. That is why we had put together the Singapore-Laos Enhanced Cooperation Package. This package comprises a customised slate of courses to help Lao officials to prepare for your ASEAN Chairmanship this year.

Today, as we come together to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of relations between our countries and renew our longstanding friendship, I hope that we will recommit to maintaining those ties for a lifetime. It is good for us as friends, but even better for our two countries overall. I call on everyone present today to renew our mutual commitment to one another. I wish Laos a very successful year of ASEAN Chairmanship. Even more importantly, I wish for the success of Laos and the happiness of the Lao people. Thank you all very much.

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Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian delivering remarks at the Singapore Cooperation Programme Alumni Reception in Vientiane, Laos, 27 January 2024

Photo Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and Head of the Committee for External Relations, Central Committee of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Thongsavanh Phomvihane at the Singapore Cooperation Programme Alumni Reception in Vientiane, Laos, 27 January 2024

Photo Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan at the Singapore Cooperation Programme Alumni Reception in Vientiane, Laos, 27 January 2024

Photo Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore